'A lot of beer': Trash cleanup crews descend on IMS after Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Star

26-05-2025

The gravel below the grandstands of turn 4 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Memorial Day morning showed the aftermath of the more than 300,000 people that attended the Greatest Spectacle in Racing the day before.
Hot dog buns and half-eaten fried chicken pieces were scattered between crinkled bags of chips, candy wrappers and paper plates. Empty cans that fell from the bleachers to the rocks indicated the beer preferences of Indianapolis 500 race fans, including Bud Light, Busch Light and Miller Lite to name a few.
But in the H and J stands of turn 4, members of Frankton High School's Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Anderson University football team spent the morning cleaning up the remnants of race day, starting in the bleachers and working their way to the gravel below.
'A lot of beer,' Frankton High School junior Hadely Walls said of what she saw at IMS. 'It's crazy to see how many people don't throw away their trash.'
The Memorial Day cleanup, which happens every year after the Indy 500, is a fundraising opportunity for the Frankton and Anderson groups. With every chicken bone and beer can picked up from their portion of the massive track, they earn money to support their organizations, advisers said.
Jonathan Coddington, the head football coach for Anderson, said his team has tackled similar cleanups before, including after Indianapolis Colts games and big concerts.
The groups took on the cleanup challenge with the help of Jim Hostettler, who said he has assisted post-race trash pickups since 1998. Hostettler said IMS can pay about $4,000 for the cleanup of stands H and J, but he enjoys seeing different groups, especially younger kids, get out and work.
'It's good to let the kids know they're doing it for the environment,' he said.
Kaydence Banda, a freshman at Frankton, said she saw the packed grandstands on TV during the race on May 25 and was struck by how quiet IMS was just a day later, as she stood in the same bleachers and carried down trash bags of garbage from race day. Memorial Day was Banda's first time helping clean up after the Indy 500.
'It's crazy big,' Banda said of IMS. 'I don't think I really knew what to expect.'
While fundraising was one perk of cleaning up after the Indy 500, the morning at IMS was also a chance to connect with other Frankton FCA members, Walls said. The group began just after 6 a.m. on May 26, riding in white "Frankton Eagles" buses to Indianapolis.
"It's a great time to bond," she said.
After tackling the bleachers, Hostettler directed the Frankton students and Anderson football players on how to clear the trash under the grandstands. Cans would go in one container and trash in another, he told the groups.
They got to work immediately with rakes, recycle boxes and buckets with "Keep Indy Clean" printed in bold letters on the side and the clink of the cans hitting the containers a sign of their progress toward a cleaner section of the track.